Recent headlines reflect an emerging narrative in America. This narrative is not only disturbing; it is one that is very dangerous to African Americans living in the United States — especially in the era of Donald Trump.
These headlines are marked by cute nicknames like BBQ Becky, Permit Patty, Golf Cart Gail and Cornerstore Caroline. The cuteness of the given nicknames belies the seriousness of the underlying incidents from which they were spurred.
In these situations, white women called the police on black people for barbecuing in a public park, a small child selling water as a fundraiser, a father giving instruction to his own son and a 9-year-old whose backpack brushed a white woman in a corner store. A nine-year-old, who wound up accused of sexual assault.
Martin Luther King, Jr. told us that for African-Americans to be truly free we must achieve civil rights, economic empowerment and freedom from the tyranny of the state’s police power. Dr. King told us these three items were inextricably linked, and that without progress on all three there could be no achievement of freedom for blacks in this country.
That any white person in American can credibly use the police power of the state to control the bodies and the freedoms of African-Americans by placing a phone call is both dangerous and inconsistent with the founding principles of our country. These principles state that there should be liberty and justice for all.
Upon hearing of the latest incidents involving Golf Cart Gail and Cornerstore Caroline, I became sick. I wondered if these people know what can and is happening in this country when police are called on African-Americans, particularly men.
The names of Oscar Grant, Michael Brown, Philando Castile and Emmett Till come to mind. They are all dead. The first three at the hands of the police under very dubious circumstances. Emmett Till, 14 years old, was falsely accused of whistling at a white woman. For that crime he was beaten to death by an angry white mob, only to have the woman later admit it had not been Emmett.
We simply cannot have people, African-American or otherwise, executed extrajudicially. To do so violates both the rule of law and basic due process. It makes me wonder, have we returned to the days when African-Americans were considered three-fifths of a person?
For Trump’s America, MAGA is painted as a path back to some glory days of yesteryear when white America was much better off. I believe the sentiment espoused by President Trump and embossed on his signature red hats, has emboldened some in America to think they are justified in trying to control blacks through the military power of the state.
For many African-Americans, myself included, on the other hand, MAGA has meant living in what James Baldwin describes as a constant state of fear and anger.
We live in a somewhat paradoxical state. On one hand, “invisible” as Ralph Ellison described in “Invisible Man”: “I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.”
On the other hand, we are seen as the scary “superpredators,” always up to no good. When we are seen, it is in this negative light, one which is leading people, in alarming numbers, to call the police.
This is not a sustainable state for anyone. These incidents must stop. Otherwise, we will face black bodies continuing to drop, or head toward an all-out race war. Neither is tenable.
Maybe fines for people who frivolously call the police, or better judgment by the police in responding, or both, can provide a solution. We must find one. Neither I, nor my black brothers and sisters, can continue living in fear and anger in a country we helped, for free, to build.
Technology CEO Bryan Parker ran for Oakland mayor in 2014.